Urbana's high-traffic Lincoln Avenue to be studied for possible changes

Deb Pressey, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·2 min read

Sep. 21—URBANA — A high-traffic, high-priority stretch of Urbana's Lincoln Avenue is about to get some special attention.

The city and Champaign County Regional Planning Commission are launching a study of the 1.2 miles of Lincoln Avenue between Green Street and Florida Avenue, with an eye on making it safer for all users.

Those users include an average 13,100 vehicles a day rolling through a congested area that's also highly traveled by pedestrians and bicyclists.

This area has been identified as one of the most important north-south routes for Urbana and the University of Illinois campus district.

It also includes the intersection of Lincoln and Ohio Street, which has been flagged by the state as among the top five percent of locations in the Department of Transportation's District 5 that have the most severe safety needs based on the numbers of crashes, injuries, deaths and traffic volumes, according to information posted by the RPC.

In all, 337 crashes were reported in the study area of Lincoln from 2013 to 2022, with more than half of them at intersections, the posted RPC information states.

Urbana City Engineer John Zeman said the Lincoln Avenue corridor is a high-priority project for the city.

The Green Street to Kirby Avenue section of Lincoln is in the higher-traffic volume range for the roads the city maintains, and a main safety concern for Lincoln Avenue is the interaction between the various users — vehicles and the more vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists, he said.

"Some of the segments have higher-than-average crash rates in the last five years," Zeman said.

The study is the starting point to look at what problems need to be solved, how to address the options and what improvements are possible, he said.

"We're entering the corridor study with an open mind," Zeman said. "There's not a lot of space to work with."

RPC Planner J.D. McClanahan said the agency has state funding to do the study, and finding funding to make whatever needed changes are identified will be a part of the work.

Partners in the study also include the University of Illinois and Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District.

The public is being asked to participate by taking a brief survey online.

More information and a link to the survey can be found at ccrpc.org/lincoln.

Also planned is a public open house about the study and a chance to ask questions, to be held from 4-7 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave., U.